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Hypocrisy Looms Large with Government Subsidy-Farming

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Climate change is real, announces the headline in the Washington Post, before it moves on to explain how disappointed some industry tycoons are in Trump’s exiting the Paris Agreement.

In response [to President Trump’s announcement], one corporate titan after another tweeted their disappointment at the announcement, companies issued statements committing to action on climate change and two high-profile members of Trump’s business advisory council said they would leave the forum in response.

So who exactly are these corporate titans who are so upset that at least two are leaving Trump’s business advisory council? Francis Menton of the Manhattan Contrarian gives us a look at two of the Washington Post’s top exhibits.

Exhibit A: Elon Musk:

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted Thursday afternoon that he was “departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world.”  

Hey, Post — is Musk the head of any other company? Hint: that would be SolarCity, a manufacturer and installer of solar panels that is on the brink of financial disaster and totally dependent on government “renewable energy” handouts and tax credits to survive.  Trump’s new policies could likely spell the end of SolarCity, and could even take Tesla down along with it (the two Musk-controlled entities merged a few months ago). Funny, isn’t it, that the Post wouldn’t mention that?

Exhibit B: Jeffrey Immelt

General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt, who had said during a speech to students at Georgetown University in May that the business community “has kind of moved on in this debate,” tweeted a similar refrain, calling upon business to lead the way on global climate standards. “Disappointed with today’s decision on the Paris Agreement,” he wrote in a tweet. “Climate change is real. Industry must now lead and not depend on government.” 

So, Post, might GE have any interest in multi-billion dollar government giveaways for wind and solar energy?  Nothing that you can find in this article. If you are interested, try here as to wind, and here as to solar. GE is in up to its neck in government subsidy farming.

Throughout the Post’s article, you’ll see names involved with subsidy-farming, “and others who think they are immune to intentional energy-impoverishment policies,” such as Apple’s Tim Cook, notes Mr. Menton.

Where in the Post are the reactions from CEOs involved in finite-resource industries such as paper, cement, iron and steel, or coal?

Read more from Francis Menton here.

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Debbie Young

Debbie, editor-in-chief of Richardcyoung.com, has been associate editor of Dick Young’s investment strategy reports for over three decades. When not in Key West, Debbie spends her free time researching and writing in and about Paris and Burgundy, France, cooking on her AGA Cooker, driving her Porsche Boxter S through Vermont and Maine, and practicing yoga.